Secondary incinerator



Sept. 29, 1959 F. E. NELSON SECONDARY INCINERATOR Filed June 14, 1955 .IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 2 E d .F RINN La,

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United States Patent SECONDARY INCINERATOR- Frederick E. Nelson, Greentree, Pa.

Application June 14, 1955, Serial No. 515,471

6 Claims. (Cl. 18S-6) This invention relates generally to incinerators and more particularly to a secondary incinerator -for burning up the smoke, fumes, and other combustible products.

The domestic incinerator as well as combustible fumes discharged from the manufacture of paints or the like, Vpermit the escape of undesirable smoke and fumes .to ythe atmosphere. The principal object of this invention is to direct the smoke, fumes and unburned discharge of ;an incinerator or other 4combustible fume discharge, through a glow zone supplied with suicient heat and air Ior combustion supporting gas to support complete combustion of the initial products leaving no fumes or smoke.

Such complete combustion leaves a fine ash which may be blown, brushed or otherwise dropped from the glow zone in the secondary combustion chamber. The bottom of this chamber may be removable for this purpose.

This glow zone is best produced by'a checkerwork or grid of a material capable of absorbing and retaining vheat to insure complete combustion of -the products and air or oxygen passing therethrough. This checkerwork vor grid preferably consists of Aa ceramic that will absorb vand retain the heat and will not melt or disintegrate under the normal temperatures in this secondary combustion chamber. A ceramic coated electrical resistance rod may be made to glow sufliciently to insure complete combustion but it is preferable to use a ceramic grid with the ame from a secondary burner playing thereon. The fuel of such a burner may produce a condition as bad @as the products to be burned 'in regard to the smoke and .fumes `but a high volatile fuel or an artificial or natural gas is good for this purpose. Usually a gas llame is employed in the primary incinerator and is thus available 'for vthe secondary burner. Secondary air is admitted around and through the middle of the secondary burner to support the combustion of the products to be con- `sumed as well as 'the gas burned by the secondary burner.

The grid or checkerwork in the glow zone is preferably made of ceramic of relatively small .cross section to assure that it will quickly heat up and glow, and will retain this glow by reason ofthe vadditional heat from the secondary burning as well as the secondary burner as the products 'to be consumed will not always pro-vide a -suicient heat to` maintain a glowing temperature.

The grid or checkerwork of the glow zone should provide -a series of small paths, none of which provide a direct line through the glow zone. These paths should'be spaced approximately the .same width as the ceramic forming the grid-or checkerwork. lThis type ofy glow zone actually restricts the flow of gases through this zone but the additional impetus by reason of the additional heat produces a forced draft. After once starting this secondary combustion chamber, it can be opened into the room. It is, of course, preferable to employ a flue connection at all times and provide a Weighted damper above the flue connection to take in additional air and thus cool the flue gases.

Other objects and advantages appear hereinafter in the following description and claims.

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The accompanying drawings show for the purpose -of exemplification without limiting the invention or claims thereto certain practical embodiments illustrating vthe principles of this invention wherein:

Fig. l is a view in vertical section ofthe secondary combustion chamber comprising this invention.

Fig. 2 is a View in Vertical section taken at right angles to that shown in Fig. l.

Fig. v3 is a View in horizontal section of the secondary combustion chamber comprising the invention.

Fig. 4 is a view in side elevation of the secondary burner applied to an incinerator.

Fig. 5 is a view in vertical .section showing a modified form of the ceramic in a glow zone.

Referring to the drawing the secondary combustion chamber 1 comprises the metal jacket 2 having a heat insulating liner 3. The bottom 4 of the chamber is removable and carries the secondary burner 5. A series of regulated openings 6 in the bottom surrounds Athe burner. Another opening `7 through the burner 5 and the bottom 4 `is shown in Fig. 3. The openings 6 and 7 are for the purpose of admitting secondary air to support the `combustion-of the products to :be .burned as well as Athe flame of the secondary burner 5, although only the central opening 7 in the burner is preferred. The burner 5 may be supplied with fuel from a suitable source of supply such as gas through the pipe 8. This burner should be lit first to heat the yilue and start the increased ow or 'draft through the -inoinerator-andue.

The secondary combustion chamber 1 has an inlet flue connection 10 -for :receiving lthe products 'to be burned whether they be smoke or fumes. The uid to be treated passes through the connection 10 into the combustion chamber 11 immediately above the flame issuing from the burner 5. Some ofthe ames from the burner may raise above the inlet and envelop the products to be consumed and also extend through the glow zone or baille zone 12..

The bale or glow zone 12 is a portion of the combustion chamber 11 and comprises in its simplest form a multiplicity or a series of ceramic elements such as the rods 13 shown in Fig. 2 to be square in cross section. These rods are supported in openings in the inner liner 3 andthe spacing between adjacent rods in a row and ybetween subjacent rows is substantially equalif not-slightly less than the cross sectionof the ceramic rods 13 regardless ofthe cross sectional shape of .these rods. These rods may be polygonal in cross section which may be from a triangular form to a form approaching around rod such as shown at 14 in Fig. .5. The .checkerwork may be formed by disposing the rods of each row 'transverse to the rods of the next ,adjacent row as shown in Fig. 5.

In Fig. 3 the rods are all disposed in .parallel relation, and the rods of subjacent rows are alternated in position to form the checkerwork. There lare ive rows shown. However, .this number may be changed depending .upon the ability of this chec'kerwork to break down the flow of products through this glowing mass .to .complete 4.the combustion thereof.

` The outlet cross section 15 is connectedto Vthe flue '1'6 and has .the weighted-.damper 17 :interposed therebetween. This damper admits air as the draft created by the secondary combustion chamber is sometimes greater than that produced by the llue and the air entering past the damper 17 thus aids in cooling the products of combustion in the flue.

The secondary combustion chamber may be supported in any suitable manner to receive the products to be burned. As shown in Fig. 4, the flue inlet connection 10 is connected through the elbow 18 to the ue chamber 20 of the domestic incinerator 21 having a grate Z2 and an 3 ash drawer 23. The actuator 24 is rotated to cause the cam 25 to shake the grate 22. A burner and shield structure 26 is disposed within the incinerator combustion chamber 27 which may be loaded through the door 28. The wall is double to provide air space at 30 to maintain the walls cool.

In the structure of the secondary combustion chamber Y as shown in Fig. 5 only the glow zone 12 is illustrated and the .other parts may assume different types of burners or ue inlets and outlets. This glow zone has the round rods 14 disposed in subjacent rows relatively close to each other and arranged at an angle to each other rather than parallel. Only two rows of rods are shown. These rods support a loose mass of ceramic forms or bits of ceramic scrap 31 which may be in the form of hollow cylindrical skeletons or ceramic gas stove mantles or other shapes that will glow when heated. This mass functions as a glow zone and also thoroughly breaks up the flow of the products therethrough. The rods and the loose ceramic mass may be of different cross-sectional configuration, such as square, round, elliptical, teardrop, airfoil, spiral, helical, or zigzag, and the like.

Thus in each instance the baffle zone, which is interposed between the ue inlet and the flue outlet 15 in the combustion chamber 11 and through which all the products of combustion must pass, is made up of a multiplicity of ceramic elements. It should be noted that these ceramic elements completely block the bale zone except for the many tortuous paths between these ceramic elements for the escape of the products of combustion. These tortuous paths leave no straight vertical path for the products of combustion in their ascent upwardly through the baffle zone.

Each of the ceramic elements making up the bale maze has its entire surface in the zone uncovered and exposed. Since the dimension of said ceramic elements in the direction transverse of the zone is only a small fraction of the width of the zone and since these ceramic elements are spaced from each other in the direction transverse of the zone a distance no greater than 'the dimension of the ceramic elements, a multiplicity of tortuous paths are thus provided for the products of combustion and a large surface area of the ceramic elements is exposed to the upward ow of the products. This results in the glowing of the ceramic elements from the products of combustion of the burning fuel from the burner 5 as well as due to the completion of the burning of the products of combustion of the undesired particles entering the ue inlet 10 from the incinerator. Thus complete combustion is effected and no smoke or odors pass out of the flue outlet 1S.

I claim:

1. A secondary incinerator having a combustion chamber with a burner and a secondary air inlet and a lue inlet and a ue outlet for passing products to and from the combustion chamber, a baie zone interposed above said inlets and between said inlets and said flue outlet and through which all of the products of combustion must pass characterized in that said bale zone includes a multiplicity of ceramic elements located in and completely blocking said zone except for the presence of tortuous paths between said ceramic elements for the escape of products of combustion whereby no straight vertical paths for the products of combustion are provided and said products of combustion in their vertical ascent through said zone follow only tortuous paths, each of said ceramic elements having its entire surface in the zone uncovered and exposed, each of said ceramic elements having a dimension in the direction transverse of the zone which is only a small fraction of the width of the zone, and said ceramic elements being spaced from each other in the direction transverse of the zone a distance no greater than said dimension, so that a multiplicity of tortuous paths are provided for the products of combustion and a large surface area of said ceramic elements is exposed whereby said ceramic elements are caused to glow from the heat of the products of combustion and complete combustion of undesired particles is effected.

2. The structure of claim 1 characterized in that the lower ceramic elements are cross members formed by parallel rods that support other ceramic elements thereabove.

3. The structure of claim 1 characterized in that said ceramic elements are parallel rods disposed in subjacent layers wherein the rods in each layer extend transverse to the rods in the adjacent layer.

4. The structure of claim 1 characterized in that the ceramic elements are all parallel rods supported in subjacent layers wherein the rods in adjacent layers are in alternate relation to each other to form the multiplicity of tortuous paths.

5. The structure of claim 1 characterized in that said flue inlet enters into the side of said combustion cham ber above said burner and said secondary air inlet enters into said combustion chamber below said burner.

6. A secondary incinerator having a combustion cham ber with a burner and a secondary air inlet and a flue inlet and a Hue outlet' for passing products to and from the combustion chamber, a bafe zone interposed above said inlets and between said inlets and said tlue outlet and through which all of the products of combustion must pass characterized in that said baffle zone includes a multiplicity of ceramic elements located in and completely blocking said zone except for the presence of tortuous paths between said ceramic elements for the escape of products of combustion whereby no straight vertical paths for the products of combustion are provided and said products of combustion in their vertical ascent through said zone follow only tortuous paths, each of said ceramic elements having its entire surface in the zone uncovered and exposed, each of said ceramic elements having a dimension in the direction transverse of the zone which is only a small fraction of the width of the zone, and said ceramic elements being spaced from each other in any one direction vertically or transversely of the zone a distance substantially that of said dimension, so that a multiplicity of tortuous paths are provided for the products of combustion and a large surface area of said ceramic elements is exposed whereby said ceramic elements are caused to glow from the heat of the products of combustion and complete combustion of undesired particles is elected.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,064,477 Hatch June 10, 1913 1,773,256 Breitwieser Aug. 19, 1930 1,989,400 Cameron et al Ian. 29, 1935 2,656,008 Engel Oct. 20, 1953 2,702,012 Weggel Feb. l5, 1955 2,752,870 Short et al. July 3, 1956 

